Letter VII. If you are LDS (Mormon) and haven't read Oliver Cowdery's Letter VII, you need to read it during 2018 to understand Church history and the Book of Mormon. This blog discusses the role the letter has played in our understanding of Church history.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Martin Harris - no on else saw the plates

Martin Harris

In January 1859, Martin Harris gave an interview to a magazine titled Tiffany's Monthly. During the interview, he made this statement.

"These
plates were usually kept in a cherry box made for that purpose, in the
possession of Joseph and myself. The plates were kept from the sight of the
world, and no one, save Oliver Cowdrey,
myself, Joseph Smith, jr.,
and David Whitmer,
ever saw them.”

This raises a serious question about the traditional narrative regarding the golden plates.

Martin knew about the Eight Witnesses. He knew each of them personally, and he knew their testimony was included in every copy of the Book of Mormon right next to his own testimony as one of the Three Witnesses.

Why would he say no one but the Three Witnesses (and Joseph Smith) ever saw the plates?

_____

The traditional narrative teaches that there was only one set of golden plates. If that's true, then this statement by Martin Harris is false.

(Some might say he was referring only to the experience of the Three Witnesses, but that's changing his unambiguous statement. His words speak for themselves.)

Here is a depiction and explanation of the traditional narrative.

In this scenario, Moroni somehow combined the abridged plates with the original plates of Nephi (commonly called the "small plates") and put them into the stone box on the "hill in New York" where Joseph found them.

The Title Page was the last leaf of the plates. It lists the contents of the plates but doesn't mention any original plates.

In Harmony, Oliver attempted to translate but was unable to. In D&C 9, the Lord told him:

I would that ye should continue until you have finished this record, which I have entrusted unto him.

2 And then, behold,otherrecordshave I, that I will give unto you power that you may assist totranslate.

"This record" refers to the one and only set of plates Joseph ever had. "Other records" refers to unknown materials, or maybe the Book of Abraham.

When Joseph and Oliver neared the end of the plates, they considered retranslating the Book of Lehi (the lost 116 pages), the Lord told them not to. Instead, they had to translated the "plates of Nephi" (D&C 10).

These plates were contained in the set of plates they already had, but apparently they didn't know it. (Lately, the historians tell us Joseph didn't even use the plates, which makes D&C 10 difficult to understand. Why would the Lord refer to the engravings on the plates of Nephi if Joseph wasn't even looking at the plates? A topic for another time.)

Joseph continued translating the abridged plates in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Before they left Harmony, Joseph and Oliver translated the Title Page--the last leaf of the plates--but somehow Joseph skipped over the plates of Nephi that were supposedly included in this set of plates.

Before leaving Harmony, Joseph gave the original plates to a divine messenger. On the road to Fayette, Joseph, Oliver and David encountered the messenger, who was one of the Three Nephites. David Whitmer reported that the man said he was going to Cumorah, not Fayette.

But David Whitmer lied or had a bad memory because actually, the messenger was taking the plates directly to Fayette.

Both the Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses saw this same set of plates.

And Martin Harris lied to Tiffany's Monthly.

_____

The new scenario, which I refer to as "two sets of plates," is quite different.

In this scenario, Moroni put only the abridged plates into the stone box on the Hill Cumorah where Joseph found them. He did not put the plates of Nephi into the stone box; instead, those plates remained with all the other original Nephite records in the repository in a separate department of the hill.

The Title Page was the last leaf of the plates. It lists the contents of the plates but doesn't mention any original plates.

In Harmony, Oliver attempted to translate but was unable to. In D&C 9, the Lord told him:

I would that ye should continue until you have finished this record, which I have entrusted unto him.

2 And then, behold,otherrecordshave I, that I will give unto you power that you may assist totranslate.

"This record" refers to the original set of plates; i.e., the abridged plates that Moroni put in the stone box. "Other records" refers to the plates of Nephi, of which Joseph and Oliver knew nothing at the time.

When Joseph and Oliver neared the end of the plates, they considered retranslating the Book of Lehi (the lost 116 pages), the Lord told them not to. Instead, they had to translate the "plates of Nephi" (D&C 10).

Now they knew what "other records" referred to. Except they didn't have the plates of Nephi--yet.

Joseph continued translating the abridged plates in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Before they left Harmony, Joseph and Oliver translated the Title Page--the last leaf of the plates. They were finished with those plates. They had translated everything Moroni put in the stone box, except for the sealed portion.

Before leaving Harmony, Joseph gave the original plates to a divine messenger. On the road to Fayette, Joseph, Oliver and David encountered the messenger, who was one of the Three Nephites. David Whitmer reported that the man said he was going to Cumorah, not Fayette.

David told the truth.

The messenger took the original plates to the depository of Nephite records in Cumorah, picked up the small plates of Nephi, took them to Fayette, and gave them to Joseph. That's why Joseph and Oliver translated the plates of Nephi in Fayette.

The Three Witnesses saw the original plates, brought by the angel (presumably Moroni).

The Eight Witnesses saw the plates of Nephi, brought by one of the Three Nephites (as Joseph's mother explained).

Martin Harris was not a liar. He spoke the truth to Tiffany's Monthly.

_____

If you're not familiar with the "two sets of plates" scenario, there's a diagram on this blog. Look under "Pages" in the menu in the right column.

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Original Letter VII

The earliest version of Letter VII available today is in the July 1835 Messenger and Advocate, published in Kirtland. You can see it by clicking here. Go to issue 10, JULY 1835, and scroll to Letter VII.

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